Here Comes the Trubbish Squad! (Japanese: ヤブクロン戦隊と秘密基地！？The Yabukuron Squad and the Secret Base!?) is the 12th episode of the Best Wishes series, and the 669th episode of the Pokémon anime. It aired in Japan on December 9, 2010 and in the United States on April 23, 2011.

Contents

Synopsis

Continuing their journey on the way to Nacrene City, Ash and his friends had stopped in the middle of the road to analyze the map. Suddenly, a gang of small children comes speeding towards them on tricycles, while a Pokémon sits cheerfully in an orange wagon led by a small boy riding in front. Two women chase after the tricycle gang, shouting to get the children to stop, or for anyone to stop them. The children seemed to ignore her, and with commands given by their 'leader' (the boy in front), they readied balls of mud and began to throw them at Ash and his friends. As they were unprepared for the 'attack', Ash and his friends all got hit squarely in the face, except for Iris who leaped up and landed on the fence. While the children celebrated as they passed, Ash's hat was then swept off the ground by the passing arm of the Pokémon in the wagon. The two women eventually catches up and apologizes to the group for the children's misbehavior, and the group learns that the children belongs to the kindergarten of the younger of the two women.

Ash and his friends are taken to a Day Care Center for Pokémon, where a Sandile with sunglasses is seen scouting the outside before returning underground. Iris is impressed by the amount of Eggs at the Day Care which Cilan exclaims that they are filled with the kindness of raising Pokémon. The older woman introduces herself as the Pokémon Day Care owner, Karena, and her granddaughter, Daniela, introduces herself as the kindergarten teacher. After the group had exchanged formalities, Daniela explains that the Pokémon they saw earlier was a Trubbish, and that the children had found the Trubbish in a scrap yard nearby and brought it to school without her permission. Ash looks up Trubbish in his Pokédex. As Iris wonders about Trubbish's love of garbage, Ash plainly states that his hat is not trash, while Cilan comments on the Garbage Bag Pokémon's weird 'taste'.

Daniela then explains that the children had brought back the Trubbish as it was crying from loneliness and wanted to be their friend. As she told them that Trubbish loves garbage and keeping it would only make the school dirty, the children pleaded to let it stay, claiming that they will clean up after the Trubbish. While Daniela insisted on having Trubbish returned to the scrapyard and the children argued against her, Trubbish releases a cloud of rancid air which causes everyone to cringe. However, the children eventually uncovered their noses and mouths, announcing loudly that they could handle the stench. Despite so, Daniela's mind was already made up as she picked up the Trubbish and returned it to the scrap yard. Over there, she explained to it why she could not keep it and returned to the school.

Ash and his friends were soon brought to a large pile of scrap surrounding a large tree in the playground, which the children and Trubbish worked together to create what Cilan calls a 'secret base'. Ash is extremely impressed by the children's construction, to which Iris scoffs at, calling him a child. Daniela is worried about the base collapsing and putting the children in danger. The group agrees to help Daniela, but the children suddenly appears from the tree house on top of the tree, claiming the base to be under the ownership of the "Trubbish Squad". Ash smiles at the children's determination when Daniela tries to reason with them. Finally, Ash offers to talk to the children himself, explaining that he understands the children since he used to play in squads like these as a child himself. Daniela agrees and Ash begins to climb the pile of scraps. However, the children were unhappy about the intrusion and began throwing mud balls at Ash. Eventually, with the help of an electric fan, the scraps below him collapses, and Ash, caught in a rubber tire, is taken 'hostage' into their tree house.

Ash is initially impressed by the quality of the tree house and asks if they built it themselves. A girl explains that Trubbish helped them build it, when the boy with Ash's hat scolds her for being friendly towards their "enemy". He then introduces himself as Avery, the leader of the squad. Ash introduces himself as well as Pikachu, and the children are thrilled to see a real Pikachu and ask if they can pet him. Pikachu hops off Ash's shoulder and all of them, except Avery, surrounds Pikachu and begin stroking his forehead and tummy, tugging on his cheeks and poking its tail playfully. Ash tells Avery that he is not their enemy and he had only came to talk to the children. Avery acknowledges and asks if it is alright if he plays with Pikachu. Ash agrees, but when Avery begins pulling Pikachu's tail, and Ash warns him about Pikachu's capability of generating electricity. This scares the children and they immediately back away. Ash explains that while Pikachu is very cute, he is also capable of producing a powerful Thunderbolt, which then demonstrates his power by literally shocking Ash. The kids are very impressed, and Trubbish steps forward and pulls off a pose attempting to show off its cuteness. Ash, reluctantly, states that Trubbish is cute too, but the kids agree wholeheartedly. Ash is pleased to see how much the children love Trubbish, and Avery eventually returns Ash's hat to him, calling him "big brother".

Meanwhile, Jessie, James and Meowth, are waiting patiently on a train station platform. Dressed in dark overcoats and topped with sunglasses and a dark hat, the trio remain silent and impassive, while the station is filled with echoes of a news broadcast: a large amount of scrap had mysteriously disappeared together with a Trubbish that resided in a nearby scrap yard. A man in a long trench coat, dressed almost similar and holding a metal case, suddenly appears across the platform and sits on the bench behind them. Jessie looks up, then questions when the train will depart. The man, without turning or moving, replies "9 o'clock". The Team Rocket and the man then break into conversation about the mission while making no attempt to face each other, maintaining the outlook of not being in conversation. The man then places the metal case on the ground and kicks it with his heel to beside James, who picks it up. Inside, he finds a stone, and the man explains that it actually is a dummy, and they will be contacted later with more details. The man gets up, tells the group that Giovanni is very impressed by their success so far, and then takes his leave.

Back at the tree house, Ash is telling the children that they should apologize to their teacher. The squad disagrees, saying Trubbish had done nothing wrong and that Daniela was at fault for wanting to get rid of Trubbish. Ash then talks about the stench it releases, and while one of the girls agree that it was horrible, one of the boys claimed that it was not, attracting Trubbish's attention. The girl who agreed with Ash promptly changed her mind, and Trubbish happily released a ball of gas into the tree house. While the group endured and insisted that the gas was not smelly, they eventually came out of the tree house, to Trubbish's disappointment. Ash tells Avery that he is a good friend to Trubbish, when suddenly, there was a disturbance at the ground below. A Pokémon appeared to be digging, and when the dust clears, it revealed a Sandile with sunglasses, the one that had once saved Ash's Pikachu and Oshawott from the hot spring earlier in their journey. As the "Trubbish Squad" prepares to attack, the Sandile, on recognizing Pikachu, immediately unleashes a Stone Edge attack. Ash quickly tells the children to run away as a flurry of stones hit the ground surrounding Ash. The squad, while trying to help Ash, starts throwing mud at the Sandile who angrily attacks them with yet another Stone Edge. Trubbish tries to defend the children and launches a purple blob into the air, scattering Toxic Spikes across the ground. Sandile advances slowly, unknowingly crawling into the area with the Toxic Spikes and was stunned, allowing Pikachu the opportunity to hit it with Iron Tail. As the Desert Croc Pokémon falls towards the ground, Trubbish fired a Sludge Bomb attack, sending it flying across the sky and disappearing. Ash and the kids then celebrate their victory.

As Iris and Cilan wonder what Ash is doing, Daniela realizes (from Ash's laughter) that he is actually having fun with the children, and decides to step in. The four persons waiting for Ash climbed over the scrap, and Daniela tries to negotiate with the children. Meanwhile, Iris questions Ash on how he become friends with them, while Daniela asks the kids just how long they're going to remain barricaded in the scrap. Avery replies that they will not leave until she allows them to keep Trubbish. When Daniela tells them that she can not allow Trubbish to stay, Ash requests that she listen to the children before making a decision. However, Daniela strongly insists on not keeping Trubbish and tells Ash to keep quiet, explaining that the kindergarten belongs to her. Ash claims the kindergarten belongs to the children as well, but Daniela explains that her responsibility is to keep the children safe, and thus she will resort to force if Trubbish would not leave. Taking out a Poké Ball, she calls out her Deerling, but Ash defends the children by challenging Daniela to a battle.

As Iris and Cilan exclaim in shock, and Daniela questions in surprise, Ash announces that he is, too, part of the "Trubbish Squad". Reluctantly, Deerling starts off the battle by charging at Pikachu with a Tackle attack. Pikachu was hit, but he quickly recovers and retaliates with a Thunderbolt attack. Deerling immediately dodges and jumps up onto the pile of scraps in preparation for another Tackle attack, causing Thunderbolt to miss. It jumps off the scraps and charges at Pikachu, trying to hit it again with Tackle. However, Pikachu skilfully dodges it and with excessive momentum, Deerling crashed into a pile of scraps. The surrounding stacks of scrap stirred with movement as the weight of a falling bookshelf is supported by Deerling's head. Karena, realizing that the entire structure would collapse if Deerling moved away, orders Deerling not to move and cancels the battle. Ash tells the children to evacuate the area as he and Pikachu help Deerling to hold the scraps up. As the rest of the scraps begin vibrating vigorously, both Iris and Cilan jumped down to assist in getting the children to safety. Daniela orders Avery to move away, but he refuses to leave Trubbish behind. Out of a sudden, a large bookcase lost its balance, and Daniela jumps behind him and shields him from the falling bookcase, telling him to move to safety. As Trubbish watches, touched by how everyone is trying to keep it and the kids safe, it helps by blasting away the toppling scrap with Sludge Bomb before it could fall. Despite making a huge mess of the playground, Trubbish eventually saved everyone from impending danger, and Daniela had a change of heart towards it.

With tears in their eyes, the children apologizes to their teacher, and she too apologizes for not listening to them before. As Ash reminds her of what Trubbish means to the children, he asks her to consider about letting it stay. She contemplates for a while, then turns and smiles to Trubbish and welcomes it into the school. Initially surprised, Trubbish smiles and was given a group hug by the overjoyed children. Karena finally reveals that once Trubbish befriends a person, it will stop expelling bad odors. Cilan asks if she knew that all along, and she hints of her experience by saying she is a daycare worker, to which Iris argues that she could have told Daniela from the beginning. However, Karena claims that with regard to both Pokémon and children, a teacher must learn how to raise them properly on their own, and it would be too easy to simply tell Daniela what to do.

Ash, Iris, Cilan, all of their Pokémon (excluding Excadrill), and Trubbish spend the rest of the day (and night) returning the scraps to the scrap yard. The next morning, Daniela thanks the group for all of their help the day before, and Karena presents Ash with an Egg as a reward for all his efforts. Ash thanks her and accepts the Egg. The children then informs Ash that he's always welcome in the Trubbish Squad, and he tells them that he looks forward to battling them someday. Ash and his friends then leave for Nacrene City. With a Pokémon Egg in hand, Ash, together with Iris and Cilan, now wave goodbye to their new-found friends.

Trivia

Ash obtaining an Egg in this episode was first revealed by the official Japanese Pokémon website when it announced players could obtain random Pokémon Eggs containing one out of three Pokémon via Wi-Fi.

Dub edits

At the train station, when Jessie inquires as to what time the express train is leaving, the man who answers her gives the reply of "9 o'clock." In the episode's original Japanese version, the man's response was "7 PM" instead.

The times given both happened to be the airing times of the anime at the time, with 9:00 a.m. (EST) being its airing time in the US and 7:00 p.m. (JST) being its airing time in Japan.